Rising levels of air pollution are posing a health hazard to people worldwide. In 2016, exposure to ambient PM2.5 caused 1.025 million deaths in India. While a number of policies to combat air pollution exists, improper implementation leaves us gasping for the most basic of human needs—air.

In 2016, exposure to ambient PM2.5 was the cause of 4.1 million deaths worldwide. The ill-effects of air pollution are mostly borne by low and middle-income countries that lack the means to combat or monitor the rising levels of air pollution. About 26 per cent (1.04 million) and 25 per cent (1.025 million) of global deaths occurred in China and India respectively, collectively bringing the toll in these countries to more than half (51 per cent) of the rest of...